Liontamer

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Download it! http://ocremix.org/info/Sophomore_Year Torrent it! http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Sophomore_Year.torrent

I wasn't borderline, but put me down with Nutritious for these crits. Solid regardless! YES

With a chill intro like that, I wonder how this dipped into NO territory in MW's opinion. Let's check it out. Source usage-wise, no issues picking out enough to get it well over 50%, so I scrapped my timestamps; it checks out just fine on that level. Everything seemed strong until the first section where I thought things got crowded. 3:43's section was really crowded with the "Midnight Wood" backing part getting pretty smothered - for example, notice how the bass barely registers; that only lasted until about 4:05. 4:07 moved onto "Stasis Awakening" while still referencing "Midnight Wood" underneath. Yeah, the overall sound definitely isn't awful, but when it's clear that the interplay between the two themes is important like this, you'd want the mixing to be clearer so that the different lines both cut through, and that's definitely not happening here. The whole thing has a rather distant and muddy sound to it -- seemingly not a lot of high-end -- and while the lead guitars wail and have great energy, they're taking up all of the space during the fuller sections and drown out the rest of the writing, which is probably sharing too much of the same frequency range; a musician judge can properly speak to that, particularly for this section. Nice dropoff at 5:43 focusing on just the "Stasis Awakening" melody before referencing to "The Last General" at 6:14 and then moving back to "Stasis Awakening" at 6:37. The final intense section at 7:38 is definitely mixed in a way where it's just mud and machine gun drumming, and it's just not clear enough. It's actually a bit better/more distinct once the type of machine gun drums changed for the 8:05-8:18 part of the crescendo. The final section of "The Last General" from 8:31 until the end was wild, but let 'im go, what's the problem? On a production perspective, I think the mixing should be improved before we roll with it. That said, the arrangement is tremendous and doesn't need to be touched; I don't know what MindWanderer is smoking, as there's nothing wrong structurally with the track. I didn't find any of additive parts of the gradual textural build until 2:28 to be abrasive or unpleasant in any way, so I'm not sure if his volume was just too high. It seemed like his comments on the unpleasantness would have most applied to 7:38-on rather than the beginning as they seem to indicate. I'm a conditional YES for now. If Peter can take another pass at the production to get this sounding clearer, mainly for the densest sections, I think it's an easy call otherwise. I feel bad not being in this one's corner quite yet, because I don't want the production aspect of our bar to be too high, but that side of it really does need addressing, IMO, before we could post it. But I want this posted in some form, this definitely deserves a place. Nice work so far, Peter. EDIT (10/3): On second thought, I'm listening again, and while I'm not changed on wanting the production to be cleared up/improved for the two fuller sections I mentioned, I'm not going to hold this back if we had no revisions. The arrangements too strong and the production -- while not optimal -- isn't fundamentally broken, so I can live with it as is. I wouldn't hold it against anyone voting NO or conditional along those lines, but I think we need to be reasonably permissive and not make the perfect the enemy of the good. Updating vote to a full YES.

The changeup at 2:05 was odd, sure, but I didn't have any real issues following the rhythm, so let's go. Nice way to personalize these themes, Mike. Welcome aboard! YES

I suppose I'll add some more comments then. I didn't mind the GM-quality of that synth until 1:40, but it being obscured helps it (a lot); no issue criticizing it, although I'd say the mud actually helps downplay (not eliminate) exposure issues. The little string stabs first used at 1:00 were also pretty fakey. Production-wise, it is imbalanced, but the perfect is being made the enemy of the good. On balance, much more works with this arrangement as is, and I can live with the mixing not being ideal.

:15.25-:28, :38.5-:44, 1:18.75-1:32, 1:48-2:07, 2:13.5-2:37, 2:52.75-3:06, 3:18.5-3:47, 3:58-4:07, 4:18.5-4:31 = 141.25 seconds or 50.99% overt source usage My timestamps just cover the more obvious melodic references; the arrangement had other references to backing writing or at least chord progressions throughout. The theme finally arrived in a bigger way at 1:19 after the lengthy build. The accompanying electric guitar chugs were weak-sounding and exposed the sample, but were at least serviceable. The shift back to the source's intro (2:50-2:52) was awkward, but we'll live. 3:05-3:18's writing felt like it briefly went off the rails, but you get used to it on subsequent listens and it wasn't a huge deal. All that said, I particularly enjoyed the unorthodox usage of the theme when the piece followed the progression of the theme without the melody. Production-wise, it's not the greatest execution, but my issues were a few instances of samples lacking realism/depth. Otherwise, the instruments/samples were used reasonably well, and the track had a full soundscape. Unlike the other Js, I didn't feel the mixing choices were a dealbreaker. They're not ideal though, e.g., the melody at 1:19 not being louder and more upfront. But I didn't hear anything disqualifying this re: production because the part-writing was still discernible to me with no problems. Especially with an arrangement this creative, we need to be more permissive on production, or we're taking that half of the bar too high, IMO; I've been guilty of that as well, so let's be mindful of it. YES

Quick and dirty vote. Rocked out, loved the arrangement. Was initially concerned at the theme being quiet and de-emphasized at first when it came in at :20, but it eventually took the forefront at 1:40 for the rest of the arrangement, so no issues there. Great energy and loved the title too! Looking forward to the next one, Mauricio! YES

We've gotta get Guillaume a piano someday. The sample's solid, but for me it's in the uncanny valley in terms the realism of the sound. That said, this was very elegantly handled, and simply great arranging for piano. Beautiful and an easy, breezy call! YES

The track was 3:24-long, so I needed to hear the source tune used for at least 111 seconds for the source tune to dominate the arrangement: :00-1:07.25, 1:41-2:18.75, 2:41-3:10.5 = 134.5 seconds or 60.58% source usage Just timing out the source usage so I know I'm not being swayed by the production. Never heard the first version, since it wasn't inboxed by me, so I'm coming in fresh. The main melody synths (:14) were pretty vanilla, so I didn't like the lead, but that was more of a personal taste thing. The track was produced in a way that filled out the soundscape well despite the lead. That said this was a very creative, varied and expansive take on the theme. Along with good original writing transitions that fit together with the arrangement sections, you did a great job changing up the textures, instrumentation, and even the volume of the source theme usage to vary up the presentation. No matter what the first version sounded like 5+ years ago, the growth you've demonstrated here is clear. Nice work, and great job keeping this concept alive and better realizing its potential. Welcome aboard, Maksim! YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

The sound palette wasn't blowaway and felt thin in spots, but the combination of chiptune sounds and sampled instruments was quirky & fun. It was a solidly produced combination that kept things light and upbeat, and felt like a well-executed GBA-style soundtrack arrangement remake, so I dug it. Pretty straightforward. Good luck with the rest of the vote, Bogdan! YES

ReMixer Name: bGevko Real Name: Bogdan Gevko Email Address: Website: https://soundcloud.com/bgevko Game Arranged: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Name of Arrangement: "While the Wind Fish Sleeps" Songs Arranged: Ghost House / Mabe Village theme Additional Info: Link's Awakening was the 4th installment in the Zelda Series, released for the original Gameboy handheld in 1993 and later updated and re-released in color as Link's Awakening DX in 1998 for the Gameboy color. Composers for the game's soundtracks were Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kensuke Tanabe. My comments: How's it going guys? Here I have a remix of Ghost House from Link's Awakening. My original intention was to keep it somber and reflect the mood of the little house by the shore, but as the progression started to shape, it took itself into an unexpected direction, so one could say that it's a remix of Mabe village theme as well. Although the remix can be interpreted in many ways, in my mind the arrangement is symbolic to spending a day on Koholint Island, with each section reflecting the time of day. Perhaps it could be viewed from the perspective of one of its happy little residents, or even the little ghost, whom in my imagination, received a second chance to inhabit the island for just one more day before moving on (and the whole island disappearing). Anyways, these were some of my inspirations. You can check out the original here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZgTrcNlHMo

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

The brass timing felt behind, exacerbated by that part being so upfront & loud compared to any other instrumentation, as well as the delay effect. The panning was also too wide overall. Otherwise, this was a good cover with nicely personalized instrumentation. Structurally, this was repetitive, but none of the performances were cut-and-pasted, which was a plus. That said, more melodic interpretation somewhere would have been nice, or at least a real resolution around 2:23 for the finish instead of just stopping. Even though it's short, this is most of the way there because the instrumentation was personalized and expanded; now you need some combination of even more dynamic contrast in the performance, more substantial melodic variation, and a genuine ending/resolution to put this over the top. Adjusting the volume and effects on the brass writing as well as not making the panning so wide would also help. Nice work so far, Cameron, definitely don't drop this one, you could definitely get it passed; it's just a combination of smaller arrangement and production issues adding up to hold this back as is. NO (resubmit)

The Mad Gear Cameron Chiles Sonic Spinball "Toxic Masculinity Caves" Toxic Caves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkWUJfIotfU Originally composed by Howard Drossin